Table of contents

• Simson specialists in Suhl The Simson works were once located in the south of the Thuringian Forest
• Contact, information, address
• MOTORRAD-Classic author buys Schwalbe

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Simson specialists in Suhl

Simson specialists in Suhl
The Simson works were once located in the south of the Thuringian Forest

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In the south of the Thuringian Forest, Simson-Werke manufactured millions of mopeds and mokicks, small scooters and even large motorcycles during the GDR era. A crowd of specialists and enthusiasts keeps the legacy alive and ready to drive to this day.

Thomas Schmieder

05/24/2012

It’s an awe-inspiring moment: the treasury reveals its secrets by opening drawers. Construction drawings that have long been forgotten come to the fore, right up to the 1950s. For example, technical drawings on yellowed parchment paper for the bending radius of Schwalbe tubular frames or Spatz nameplates.

The company MZA Meyer-Zweiradtechnik Ahnatal GmbH in Suhl preserves the collective Simson memory for posterity and its own business model. Instructions for the exhaust of an AWO can be found as well as those for building clutches or draw key gears for the famous two-stroke bird series, as blueprints for current new parts. Shelves with files and drawer cabinets sorted by size contain several cubic meters of Simson secrets, right up to projects that have never been realized, such as the planned gasoline injection. Only access to the original plans enables MZA components to be reproduced. Manuela Jakob, head of the Suhl branch, proudly declares that the particularly popular Simson models S 51 and KR 51 swallow can be built completely from MZA new parts.

Heinz Recknagel introduces himself, construction manager then and now. Today with parts supplier MZA, until 2003 with Simson. He and his team created and calculated many technical drafts. “In the past, up to 80 people were involved in design and development,” explains the engineer. Today he is a lone fighter. At peak times, the Simson plant employed 3,500 to 4,500 people. MZA is enough to have 15 permanent employees in the Suhl branch.

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Reiner Klemt from KSM makes it possible: disc brake and reinforced double tube frame for the Schwalbe.

For Heinz Recknagel, the historical construction plans are familiar material and the basis for today’s work: “I design the old parts again in CAD on the computer according to your drawings.” On the one hand, to be able to control modern machining and manufacturing centers. On the other hand, in order to ensure quality standards: “We want the new parts to be as good as they were when they were in series – and that a potential supplier from Europe and Asia manufactures them according to our specifications.” The quality is more constant today, the flexibility of suppliers, especially from Asia, bigger. “But it’s not that easy to find someone who can produce small series of 500 to 1000 pieces for you,” says Thomas Zumpf. In 1973 he worked as a vehicle fitter Samson started, later became a plant engineer in the stamping shop. “At Simson we used to manufacture everything ourselves, with the exception of rubber parts and electrics, perhaps.” Even if, with up to 200,000 vehicles per year, there was sometimes a lack of capacity, as well as the supply of raw materials.

Of a few hundred people in the stamping shop, two are left at MZA today. Thomas Zumpf looks to the future without sentimentality. A look back at the past helps: “You always have part numbers and calculations in your head.” His company has been offering the M 541 four-speed engine with 50 cm³ and M 751 with 70 cm³ since 2009, at two years of age Guarantee. MZA even offers a five-speed gearbox for real freaks.

Then why not also complete vehicles fresh from the factory? Because new two-stroke engines can no longer be approved today due to the stricter EU emissions regulations. In addition, there would be logistical problems when setting up a vehicle production facility and the question of whether “New Simsons” could be price-competitive. Only the Elektrofahrzeugwerke Suhl, another company, will be flying the e-Schwalbe from summer 2012, with an electric motor in a retro design from 4699 euros. But MZA focuses on its strengths: spare and retrofit parts. “You can’t say in general that the old GDR parts were generally worse in the past,” says Heinz Recknagel. Only the ravages of time have gnawed at the substance – the last Schwalbe cult scooters rolled off the assembly line over a quarter of a century ago. “Where we still have the old tools, we try to do as much as possible in Suhl.” The MZA employees replicate parts, order them from partner companies, and assemble entire assemblies. Two cheerful ladies make wheels from delivered hubs, spokes and rims. Spoked, centered, as Heidi Preibler has done at Simson since 1975: “It is very important to tighten the spokes with the right feeling.”

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Olaf (left) is a crankshaft specialist, Tino is a collector of all Simson types built.

Manuela Jakob knows what defines the mopeds and scooters from the Thuringian Forest: “Simson doesn’t just mean robust and durable – it also means you can screw it yourself.” Thanks to brand-new spare parts, you can do that almost without limits. Order number 13043, for example, includes the conversion kit for ignition systems and on-board electrics from 6 to 12 volts. Around 170 euros are due for this. The modular system, the front and rear wheels of the Schwalbe were identical, also makes it easy for young people to maintain a Simson. Manuela Jakob attests to stable to increasing demand for her product range. There have been double-digit growth rates in recent years. Spare parts for MZ only make up around ten percent of sales. Apparently the rising fuel prices are also causing some Simson owners to let their birds fly again.

MZA, founded in 1993 by the Saxon native Falko Meyer in Vellmar near Kassel, where logistics and administration are still located today, helps. With three employees he dealt with the purchase and sale of used Simson vehicles and spare parts. When the traditional Thuringian brand finally closed its doors in 2003, MZA secured goods and stocks, tool packages as well as drawing and copyrights at an auction by the Treuhand. Since then, MZA is the only company that has been able to use various trademarks and old documents without restriction. In May 2003, the company moved into the former premises of Simson, in Suhls Meininger Strabe 222. In addition to the production area, there is a high-bay warehouse with more than 4000 box pallets.

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Thomas Zumpf operates the pipe bending machine at MZA. The complete Mokick frames are welded here.

Heinz Recknagel leads through his former factory premises measuring almost a square kilometer. Small and medium-sized businesses have moved into the former paint shops, foundries and assembly halls in the “Simson Business Park”. Hardly anything here reminds of the Simson production. Only a handful of enthusiasts still keep the tradition. Klaus-Dieter Ruck in his “Zweiradhaus Suhl” used to be a driver, then a supervisor in the Simson sports department. When you look into his shop on Hauptstrasse, you can find over 6000 spare parts, including the original nameplate of a touring AWO from the 1950s. Shelves and walls overflow in front of carefully arranged carburetors, pistons, elbows, benches and struts. Reiner Klemt from KSM-Motorenbau also sits on the former Simson site. He can also convert a Schwalbe to a disc brake. And what if you have to do cylinder grinding and new oversized pistons? No problem.

Real specialists and veterans are also Olaf and Jurgen from “Simson Service Restauration Walke & Judge”. One started at Simson in 1978, the other in 1969. In addition to the parts trade, engine service is her specialty. Olaf says of himself: “In the course of my life I have straightened hundreds of thousands of crankshafts.” He recognizes the factory specifications for good concentricity with the naked eye. And then introduces his friend Tino from across the street. The real enthusiast collects all Simson models ever built in the best possible condition. “The only thing missing is a 425 escort.” But otherwise he even has guys from the 90s. A Sperber MS 50 from 1998 with separate lubrication, for example, or a Schikra 125 with a cheap four-stroke engine from Taiwan. The people here take care of their birds and feed them again.

Contact, information, address

Blacksmith

In the Zweiradhaus Suhl there is not only service but also all engine internals: crankshafts, pistons, cylinder liners, carburettors, gear wheels.

Four Simson specialists are based on the former factory premises.
They all have the same address: Meininger Strabe 222, 98529 Suhl, in the Simson industrial park. The company MZA Meyer-Zweiradtechnik Ahnatal GmbH is the largest. However, the company does not sell its hundreds of repro spare parts to end customers.

Your visitable Internet address www.mza-vertrieb.de offers a lot of information about Simson and provides contact to the Germany-wide MZA dealer network with around 1500 workshops, shops and pick-up shops. Walke’s workshop is just opposite & Judge. It offers full service including MZ and Simson parts trade. Her specialties are engine repairs and crankshaft servicing. But also painting and sandblasting. Phone: 01 62/1 87 70 56. The shop at Zweiradhaus Suhl is impressive (www.zweiradhaus-suhl.de, phone 0 36 81/35 25 25). When looking at its richly stocked shelves, one learns to be amazed – so many Simson spare parts are in stock. Owner Klaus-Dieter Ruck has already restored vehicles for the Vehicle Museum Suhl, which is a few kilometers further in the city center (Friedrich-Konig-Strabe 7, phone 0 36 81/70 50 04, www.fahrzeug-museum-suhl.de). The KSM company is a specialist in engine construction and vehicle construction. This also includes restorations, boring and honing of cylinders with a bore of up to 56 mm, tuning motors and complete conversions (phone 0 36 81/80 39 26, www.ksm-motorenbau.de).

MOTORRAD-Classic author buys Schwalbe

Blacksmith

There she is. Live and in color – bright orange. One of the last KR 51/2, built in 1986. I was just finishing school.

Some colleagues never had a doubt that MOTORRAD Classic author Thomas Schmieder had a bird. Here is the proof: This swallow just flew to him like that …

It was love at first sight. And at the same time a chain of coincidences. The report on the Simson scene in Suhl, see the previous pages, was already “in the box” the day before. But something magically pulls me back to the former factory premises. And then, only then, do I notice it. How she parks there, squinting her ox eyes, next to two swallow siblings in the glass pavilion in which Simson once put the latest products on display at his main gate.

But this swallow is something special, in its bright orange paint. The color of summer, the promise of sun, warmth and carefree journeys weighing only 80 kilograms. I press my nose flat on the shop window. Just like at 15 with the moped and at 16 with the 80s dealer. “For sale” is written on a sheet of paper on the sheet metal body. Hhmm. Of course I know swallows, have seen many. As a West German, I was visiting relatives in the GDR as early as the 1980s, and in 1988 even with my Yamaha XJ 900 N. But at that time I had absolutely no weakness for scooters.

After the fall of the Wall, the Schwalbe advanced to become a cult classic with its kitchen machine design and the blue-smoking two-stroke engine. Quite legally with 60 things according to the Unification Treaty, also in the West. In the rich city of Stuttgart, home of Daimler, Porsche and Bosch, these GDR scooters drive around by the dozen. But I was still immune to the popular way of getting around. But everything is different now. I have to have a bird now. Is that mild of age? Or lived (N) Ostalgia? It doesn’t matter, now it’s time to reach the owner. I’m getting nervous.

There, the company sign: “KSM – The Simson Specialists”, phone 0 36 81/30 82 17. A workshop is on it. “Yes, the swallows there …”, says the voice on the phone, “they have been completely restored.” Owner Reiner Klemt, his dialect is almost Franconian, begins to list how he and his son fostered the bird of paradise: cylinder, piston and carburetor new, as well as exhaust, wheels and tires. The paint is dewy, the electrics fixed.

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Outlook: My driver’s perspective for 2012.

Not exaggerated, the colorful bird looks like new. This Schwalbe is one of the last, built in 1986. A KR 51/2 with an air-cooled four-speed engine. Great!

It is parked less than 100 meters away from the building where all swallows, more than a million, slipped from the belts between 1964 and 1986. It’s a great feeling to buy a legendary vehicle in the exact same place where it was built over a quarter of a century ago. When and where do you already have it?

All that remains is the price: 1400 euros, there is nothing to be negotiated about. Absolutely nothing. Well, such good specimens are traded higher in western German metropolises. Still, I try to push the price down to 1350 euros. Because you feel better when the salesperson comes towards you a little.

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For me this is the most beautiful of all swallows. Bought at the factory where it was built.

“Some paint has flaked off at the very front of the front fender, there is a small black spot. Maybe bumped into it while maneuvering? ”Rainer Klemt walks around the swallow in disbelief. “It’s not chipped paint. Just a drop of underbody protection that we used to preserve the lower fenders! ”Another good sign. A handshake and the matter is sealed. And the anticipation limitless. So quickly get money at the Sparkasse machine in the pretty district of Suhl-Heinrichs with its beautiful half-timbered houses . . .

In the GDR there was a waiting period of up to five years for new swallows. But the times are different now, you can take this bird with you right away. And so I’m celebrating several premieres at once today: This is my first own two-stroke, my first scooter and my first vehicle from German production. I build a cozy nest for the most beautiful of all swallows. Summer can finally come!

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